MadisonseatingReviews of madisonseating.com

Do not make the mistake of buying anything from Madison Seating. The prices catch your eye -- and the truth is that they are simply too good to be true. Here is what you end up with: -Huge delays in shipping -Wrong items sent -Used products sent -Poor customer service -Fraudulent representation of products on the website ** Read reviews elsewhere - they are pretty consistent** (I found that chair manufacturing giant, Herman Miller, "filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois court in August against Madison Seating for unauthorized use of its trademarks, improper marketing and sales of its products, including its best-selling Aeron chair." As anyone else who has been scammed by this company has learned (and look around the web to read the stories) you may end up with a used chair or a defective chair, a grey-market chair, or simply a different chair than you actually ordered. But to return it (if they grant you permission to do so) will cost you a major chunk of money -- first there is the "restocking fee" - even if the problem was their fraudulent representation of the item -- second is how you find a carrier that will ship a massive and heavy box at a rate less than $100. Because Madison wont pay for shipping to return anything. I should have known when they advertised a chair for $267 that is sold all day long at Crate and Barrel for $800+. It's simply too good to be true. Save yourself the disappointment and shop elsewhere. I should add that since posting this review Madison has threatened to "report" me.

Zero Stars.... going to keep this brief. They ship the wrong items weeks late. Then again the wrong items as well as items not shipped at all. Customer service is awful... they can’t even get it together to pick up a huge sectional mistakenly shipped. Been sitting in my house for 2 months. Even if you find furniture you like DO NOT ORDER. DO NOT USE MADISON SEATING!

The supposed-to-be an open box aeron chair I got had coffee stain everywhere and was worn out from heavy use. When sent photos of the chair, I was told that it is in their "open-box" condition. When asked about returning the chair, I was told that they do not "advertise" that return is free. On top, they wanted to charge another $50 for restocking fee.

It’s no wonder Madison Seating are getting such bad reviews in a lot of rating websites. I wish I had done some research before buying from them. Now I know and will never again buy or encourage anyone to buy from them. When I pay $650 for a chair, I expect a lot more from the seller. But ultimately, even if the delivery is late and the service is terrible, at least I would expect them to honor their “satisfaction guarantee” which is supposed to provide free return shipping if for any reason you are not happy with your purchase. They continuously refused to honor it and pay for the return shipping and every time we talked, they became more and more aggressive. After several days of arguing back and forth, they ended up saying that “now it’s too late and you are out of your 30-day window to return your purchase” Shameful and embarrassing is how I would rate their overall service and especially their return policy and ability (or willingness) to honor their own guarantee.

I purchased a Steelcase Leap V2 from them on 11/25/16 and received it on 12/13/16. Their web page for the Steelcase Leap V2 clearly shows the product pictured with arms that adjust from side to side (the second picture on the product page, which apparently I can't link to in this review). The product description includes the term "Height Adjustable Arms" as well as the term "Adjustable Arms" on a separate lines in the description. The chair I received has arms that only adjust in height. Their contention is that, even though they picture the product with side-to-side adjustable arms, that it "could not be more clear" that they only adjust in height, therefore if I want to return it I would need to cover the return shipping (about $200 - $300) and pay a $50 restocking fee for this $564.88 purchase. That's a lot to ask the customer to pay to return something they didn't order. There was also a dispute about the upgraded hardwood floor casters I ordered, but that they were willing to refund. Update: as soon as I posted this review, they sent me the email below. Trying to intimidate customers out of leaving negative reviews instead of resolving a dispute speaks for itself. ***************************************************************************************** Dear Customer, This email is to notify you that we will be reporting you to other online merchant services regarding the circumstances surrounding your order. In this way, other online retailers will decide if they want to fulfill your future online requests based on our experience with you. Some of these online retailers will be emailing you with a review summary that we have provided. Other platforms will just retain this information for any online retailer that registers or requests this information. We are sorry you felt the need to escalate this matter unnecessarily. Customer Service Madisonseating.com *****************************************************************************************

Long story short, I was told that if I didn't leave a good review after a terrible experience, they would black list me to other companies. I changed my original review to something decent, so that this wouldn't happen. After thinking long and hard about this, my good conscious didn't think it was fair to leave an innacurate review, so I changed it back. Madison Seating will probably retaliate, but I think it's only fair to other consumers to know the truth. As for the purchasing experience... they decided to cancel my order BUT only after I had changed my original bad review to a better one. Here's my story... I had ordered a chair from Madison Seating online. I had contacted them via email to find out if they had an approximate ship date and I thought the price had decreased also, so I asked about that too (wondering if I could get a price adjustment since the product hadn't shipped). My 1st question was addressed, but not the 2nd question. I emailed them again with my pricing question. They told me the price hadn't decreased and now weren't going to release my chair until I called them. I called them and and their supervisor was quite rude to me, so I asked for the manager. He assured me that the price had not changed (and I realized it was my mistake and admitted it). But I still went on Trust Pilot to leave an honest review about the supervisor...that's when I was emailed, by their manager, that they left a bad review about me to "Merchant Services" . They told me that they'd change their review about me and would send the chair I ordered, if I changed my review about them, so I did. After they got me to improve my review about them, they cancelled my order...

I had ordered 3 office chairs from this company because I was referred to them by a close friend who owns an interior design business and they had used Madison Seating before and seemed pleased. The 3 chairs I ordered were Drafting stools priced at $165 a piece. I thought that was a good price for a good reliable chair. Shipping was great and when the chairs arrived I quickly assembled one to see how it looked. The instructions in the chair were not the correct instructions for the specific chair so I had to go online (like many other people have said) and find the correct instructions. Chair was assembled and seemed nice. I thought the quality of the chair would be much nicer given the price but it was all plastic and not well made at all. I sat in the chair and quickly realized it would not work for my business as the seat was way to small and narrow and any person over 125 lbs would never be comfortable at all on this chair. That again was not a big deal, just return them and find something else. I contacted customer service and they were helpful through email until they told me they were charging me a 30% restocking fee on my entire order for my return. I completely agree I should be charged a fee for the chair that I opened and assembled however the other two chairs are still sealed, with manufacturer tape, and never touched. The customer service at Madison Seating let me know that there was no way around the fee (again I understand for the open one) but they told me the other two unopened chairs could never be sold as new. Their website does state the restocking fee between 10%-30% so I thought these chairs would be 10% and not on the highest end given they are in small boxes and quite easy to handle (I didn't order a giant desk or cabinet). I was told multiple times this is the manufacturers fee and they couldn't help me at all. Finally they did say I could write a detailed letter pleading my case to the manufacturer asking for my restocking fee to be waved and put it in the box. I doubt anyone would ever see that. I will not ever order anything from this company and will inform as many people as possible to avoid them as well.

UPDATE: I was just informed that madisonseating.com released my name, address, phone number to a third party entity in retaliation for my review and received a message a heading "YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN`T HIDE". The madisonseating.com response to my case failed to mention that I had provided an image demonstrating the defect in their product. Since I have been using these chairs for years and since the chair I ordered matched my height/weight according to the manufacturer's chart, madisonseating.com has no basic concept about the sizing/options of the product that they try to distribute. ***************************************************** Purchased a Herman Miller Aeron chair through their website. They informed me the following day that they are out of that item, will get some in about 8 weeks. I have been waiting when I received an email that the purchased item would not be available. Purchased another model. Received it promptly. The plastic material was ripped/pulled out of the frame at the bottom part of the chair and was like a hammock, my rear part almost touching the mechanic box (I am 6' 2'', 176 lbs). Contacted them, explained that it was defective. They advised me to return it and pay for shipping. I asked them about their offer on the main page listing free returned shipping. After some hesitation they complied. I took some images of the defective part and sent it back. They gave me a refund $50 less than I paid. I pointed out that what they sent was defective and included a photo. Their response was: what they sell are "Open Box Specials" and therefore defects are expected on the the chair due to storage, items in their facility are often get rolled around, some more than others.